He said he shared such information for "humanitarian reasons" and in order to force Russian Federation to "greatly step up their efforts to fight ISIS and terrorism". Following a meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Trump said only that his meeting last week with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov was "very, very successful".

Trump defended himself in a tweet Tuesday by saying he had an "absolute right" to share what he wanted.

The Senate Intelligence Committee has asked the White House for more information about reports that Trump gave intelligence information to the Russians, a spokeswoman for the panel said.

The Washington Post and other media outlets reported that Trump during an Oval Office meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Ambassador Sergey Kislyak divulged "code-word information" that came from a United States partner though an intelligence sharing deal. The classified information had been shared with the president by an ally, violating the confidentiality of an intelligence-sharing agreement with that country, the official said.

Speaking to the BBC, Post reporter Greg Jaffe said the story made it clear the president did not disclose sources or methods.

Once it is classified, the sharing of that material could lead to prosecution.

"Regrettably, the time President Trump spent sharing sensitive information with the Russians was time he did not spend focusing on Russia's aggressive behavior, including its interference in American and European elections, its illegal invasion of Ukraine and annexation of Crimea, its other destabilizing activities across Europe, and the slaughter of innocent civilians and targeting of hospitals in Syria", McCain said in a statement Tuesday.

"The Senate Intelligence Committee has reached out to the White House to request additional information on recent reports about alleged dissemination of intelligence information", Burr's communications director Becca Glover Watkins said in a statement. "You could jeopardize our sources, relationships and security".

Mr. President, this isn't about your "rights", but your responsibilities. He's questioned the competence of intelligence officials, challenged their assessment that Russian Federation meddled in last year's election to help him win, and accused them of leaking information about him and his associates.

Trump was responding to reports Monday that he revealed highly classified information to senior Russian officials during an Oval Office meeting last week, putting a source of intelligence on the Islamic State at risk. By doing so, Trump jeopardized cooperation from an ally familiar with the inner workings of the Islamic State group. "It's going to go to the Syrians, It's going to go to the Iranians - Russian allies", Baer said. "This story is false".

National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster said on Tuesday that the premise of the reporting that Trump did anything wrong was incorrect.

Three White House officials who were in the May 10 meeting strongly denounced the story, saying no intelligence sources and methods were discussed " but they didn't deny that classified information was disclosed.

U.S. Rep. G.K. Butterfield, a Wilson Democrat, called Trump's disclosure of classified information "the latest in a pattern of reckless ineptitude from the White House that puts our national security and our ability to work with our allies at risk".

"If that's true, I would say it's disturbing", said Sen.

Indeed, so sensitive was the information that it was considered "code wordclassified", one of the highest levels of classification used by the U.S. intelligence community.

Kislyak has been a central player in the snowballing controversy surrounding possible coordination between Trump's campaign and Russia's meddling in the 2016 presidential campaign.

The turmoil has overshadowed Republican legislative priorities such as healthcare and tax reform and laid bare sharp divisions between the White House and USA intelligence agencies, which concluded in January that Russian Federation had tried to influence the election in Trump's favor. "It is not something to either confirm or deny".

The White House has looked to Trump's trip overseas as a moment to draw the president out of Washington's hyper-partisan hothouse and put him in a more statesman-like setting.

"Obviously, they're in a downward spiral right now", he said of the White House.

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